HOME | DD
ZCochrane — 52 8106
by-sa
Published: 2009-07-06 10:22:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 1261; Favourites: 36; Downloads: 29
Redirect to original
Description
I got out of the train in Wuppertal Oberbarmen, torn between visiting a model railroad store in Remscheid-Lennep that I expected to be closed and only carries TT, which I like but don't currently use, or just riding the Wuppertaler Schwebebahn a little. What I did not expect was to see a steam engine greeting me on the opposite track.52 8106 is an east german class 52.80 locomotive owned by Eisenbahnfreunde Schwalm-Knüll. The original 52 was a version of the 50 that was greatly simplified and mass produced during the second world war. Together with the 50, those 1’Es (2-10-0) are the most produced steam locomotives ever. However, especially the 52s were only designed for use for maybe ten or fifteen years. West germany quickly got rid of the ones remaining there after the war, but east germany could not afford to and instead rebuilt them heavily, resulting in the 52.80. Today, it remains the most frequent preserved locomotive in all of Germany, and in fact had the honor of running the final normally scheduled normal-gauge steam train in Germany in November 1994, already under the Deutsche Bahn AG label then.
On my homepage
Related content
Comments: 15
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Ja, genau das war es. Diese hier wurde allerdings in der DDR gewaltig umgebaut.
Danke für die ganzen 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Glückspilz!
Ich hatte glaub ich nur einmal das Glück, unverhofft eine Dampflok zu sehen, und das war nur im Dosto sitzend, daran vorbeifahrend. Hab mit der alten Kamera damals versucht ein Video zu machen, aber wirklich viel sieht man da nicht. Hingen glaub ich die alten blauen Rheingold wagen dran, teilweise zumindest. Vielleicht war es ja 41 360 oder solche Kandidaten.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Passiert häufiger mal in Goslar, da wir dort einen Eisenbahnverein haben, aber in NRW war das auch das erste mal für mich.
Vielen Dank für das
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Well apparently you made the right decision that day.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well, I'd have gotten out of that train there either way (I'd have had to change trains to get to the model railroad store), but I am certainly happy with how it turned out.
Thank you for the
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nice shot, the angle makes it look very powerful. BTW is this the class of loco known as the Kriegskok?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you! Yes, it is. To be more specific, a number of types were built first as "Übergangs-Kriegslok" (transition war locomotive, short ÜK) and later as Kriegslok, also including tank engines, diesels and electrics. However, the 52 was by far the one built the most and used for almost all purposes.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It seems to be one of those designs like the American S160 or British Austerity Tank- designed for brief, intensive use in the war, but reliably serving for decades and decades afterwards. I've seen loads of pics of Kriegsloks like this working in places like Greece and Turkey into the 70's and beyond. I suppose with all the war locos, it was the simplicty of build, ruggedness, ease of maintanance etc that proved such useful factors in keeping them running for so long...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I guess those were factors. Among other things, the classic 52 is one of the most winter resistant locomotives ever built by the german railways, of course mainly to survive in Russia. It was also, despite all the simplifications, a rather modern design and hence a welcome replacement for older, less efficient units. Last but not least, at more than 7000 produced (apparently it's not entirely clear how many it were in total), together with 3164 units of the more complex 50, it just was present everywhere, and ran on almost all normal-gauge, including temporarily regauged russian, lines of the european continent. I'm nowhere near as familiar with the british and american designs, as they never played any significant part in post-war Germany, but I guess it's similar there.
It's funny: When the polish rail fans I watch post pictures of polish steam locomotives, it's almost always a 52, only with Poland-specific changes (for example the huge headlights they use there).
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah I guess the American/British locos would have mostly served in the Western sectors of occupied Germany, and given that France and Germany were quick to electrify lines after the war then the wartime steam would have been less commonplace. I know some British WD locos stayed on with the state railways in Holland and Belgium after the war, and Italy used S160's pretty extensively.
As for Polish steam, I was surprised and impressed by the pics I saw recently of a British GWR Pannier tank they shipped out there recently to run railtours. Looked pretty dinky compared to Polish double-deck passenger stock
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
According to Wikipedia, the british ones were mainly used in the Netherlands, while the american types saw very limited use in the british sector of Germany before going to possibly Hungary, although sources are unclear.
There is a good chance that polish double-deck passenger stock is actually german. The GDR produced passenger cars for most, if not all, normal gauge countries in the eastern bloc. And yeah, normal german locomotives can already look smallish next to them...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0